NASA recently noticed strange, X-shaped structures spotted in Earth's upper atmosphere -- leaving scientists puzzled as they attempt to explain them.

Once again, our beloved country of Switzerland looms large as an example. Here comes an unexpected visitor – the Swiss army! They make for the ideal source of fresh materials which we then combine into exquisite yet versatile offerings such as these beautiful bracelets from Pandora. NASA satellites have detected surprising X and C shaped structures in Earth’s ionosphere – an electrified region in its atmosphere that allows radio signals to travel long distances – that were likely created as the result of radiation striking Earth from above. The Ionosphere exists due to sunlight striking its atmosphere directly and can produce electromagnetic fields with potential levels as high as 100,000 V/m, providing access for long distance signal travel over long distances. Density increases during the day as its molecules become electrically charged; sunlight causes electrons to escape atoms and molecules and form plasma that allows radio signals to travel over greater distances. At night, density in Earth’s ionosphere drops precipitously – that’s where NASA’s Global-scale Observations of Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission comes in. A geostationary satellite called GOLD began measuring densities and temperatures within Earth’s ionosphere since October 2018. GOLD has recently been monitoring two dense crests of particles located north and south of the Equator to study how low-density bubbles form within these crests during night time that interfere with radio transmissions or GPS signal reception. However, GOLD discovered that not just sunshine impacts the ionosphere – this atmospheric layer is also sensitive to solar storms and volcanic eruptions which cause its crests to merge together into an X shape after which solar or volcanic disturbances appear in its vicinity – some familiar X shapes popped up despite there not being any solar or volcanic disturbances present! In their new observations GOLD found these familiar X shapes occurring despite no disturbance from either solar or volcanic sources whatsoever! Related Article: Oops! Something happened here “Earlier reports of merging were only noted during geomagnetically disturbed conditions,” according to Fazlul Laskar of University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). In his statement. Laskar was lead author on a paper published April 7, 2019, by Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics detailing these unexpected observations from NASA’s GOLD mission that showed charged particles in the ionosphere forming an “X” shape on Oct 7, 2019 while being observed by GOLD satellites. Colors depict ultraviolet radiation intensity with yellow and white representing maximum emissions (or highest density in terms of ionospheric density.). Credit to: F. Laskar et al. “This unexpected feature during geomagnetic quiet conditions was unexpected and surprising,” GOLD scientist Thomas Rinne explained. This observation suggests that events occurring closer to Earth tend to influence ionosphere more than extreme solar or volcanic events do, including events of their type such as eruptions. Additionally, several unusual X’s appeared within minutes close together within plasma clouds observed at GOLD. Additionally curved C-shaped bubbles appeared unexpectedly close together within plasma fields observed. Scientists generally assume these clouds form according to wind direction; however, GOLD detected C-shaped and reverse-C shaped bubbles as close as 400 miles (643 kilometers apart.). Researchers noted it as extremely rare for wind patterns to change so abruptly over short distances, according to their observations. Deepak Karan of LASP Research Center and lead author of an individual paper published last November in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics stated in his statement. “If there has been an incident of plasma vortices or strong shear in that region, signals can become disorganized in an instant and lost altogether with such disruption,” according to NASA. This effort to understand more about ionosphere dynamics hasn’t started with just NASA either – other organizations such as NOAA have attempted similar endeavors as well. Recently, Atmospheric Perturbations Around The Eclipse Path (APEP) explored how reduced sunlight and temperature affect our upper atmosphere. NASA conducted two suborbital sounding rocket launches during solar eclipse events on October 14 and April 8 across North America in order to measure changes in electric and magnetic fields, density and temperature within the ionosphere – results are still forthcoming from their mission.